401
A Pillar of Milky Ice Soars Toward the Ceiling of an Underground Vault
Hundreds of bizarre ice formations encrust the cavern walls. Each turn of the winding corridors promises
some new discovery, perhaps a cataract or a weird figure imprisoned by the unchanging cold.
"Many of these formations are so amazing that they seem figments of a dream," says the author.
"All are so
unchangeably static that their very stillness and solitude become disturbing. The only sound is the mournful cry
of the wind sneaking through dead caverns, where no man had ventured before us and none may linger long.
"Underground glaciology is still too little known.
So rare are these subterranean laboratories, so difficult to
enter and explore, that they do not attract the studies they deserve."
This shaft rises like some graceful monument fashioned by underworld gods. Maud admires its perfection of line.